An anti-high immigration campaigner was told at the last minute that he would not be allowed to ask a question in Q+A suggesting international student numbers should be reduced.
Jordan Knight, the founder of Migration Watch Australia, was initially given a spot to ask a question on Monday night’s show, but a producer called him two hours before the show to tell him he would not be allowed to ask his question at the ABC studios in Sydney.
The reason given was that Mr Knight, 30, works as a political adviser to an independent member of the upper house of the New South Wales Parliament.
But her ban comes after a Greens activist was allowed to ask a question on the programme last week suggesting international students were being unfairly blamed for the housing crisis.
Mr Knight, who works for MP Rod Roberts, had planned to ask about the possibility of Australia hosting 800,000 international students during a rental vacancy crisis.
Knight had planned to put her question to Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, Grattan Institute chief executive Aruna Sathanapally and ABC financial commentator Alan Kohler, asking whether high international student numbers were worsening Australia’s rental crisis.
“Australia has more international students than Britain and almost as many as the United States,” the submitted question said.
‘Meanwhile, we have historically low rental vacancy rates; people are paying 50 percent of their salary on rent.
‘My question is this: Does the panel believe that housing for Australians is more important than the education of overseas students?
Jordan Knight, the founder of Migration Watch Australia, was initially given a spot to ask a question on Monday night’s show but was then called by a producer to say he would not be asking his question at the ABC studios in Sydney.
‘And if so, will they reduce the number of foreign students in the country to 50,000, in order to free up housing for Australians?’
Mr Knight told Daily Mail Australia that a producer called him later on Monday afternoon to say he would not be able to ask his question due to his employment in a political position.
He argued that this was hypocritical.
“To be completely transparent, their excuse was that I was a staff member, but I checked last week and they allowed a Greens activist to ask a question,” he said.
On Monday last week, Greens activist Sophia Redjeb was allowed to ask a question during the Dandenong Q+A broadcast outside Melbourne.
He suggested that international students were being unfairly blamed for the housing crisis.
“International students provide a significant economic boost, but they face limits and exorbitant fees,” he said.
‘How can it be justified to blame these students for the pressures on cities when the real problems lie in housing shortages and cost of living crises?’
Ms Redjeb’s LinkedIn profile said she started working for the Greens three months ago as a “photographer, writer and aspiring journalist”.
An ABC spokeswoman insisted that Mr Knight and Ms Redjeb’s situations were different.
“Jordan Knight is a paid employee. Q+A does not accept questions from paid political employees,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Sophia Redjeb was doing an internship with the Green Party.’
On Monday last week, Greens activist Sophia Redjeb was allowed to ask a question that suggested international students were being unfairly blamed for the housing crisis.
Knight said ABC rules banning political staff were unfair. Her boss, Mr Roberts, a former police officer, was elected in 2019 on former Labor leader Mark Latham’s One Nation ticket.
“I find it frustrating that employees have no say in their own national broadcaster, which is funded by their tax dollars,” he said.
Monday night’s Q&A included a question from Hammad Ali, a first-generation migrant, asking if he had created a housing crisis in Australia, and another from Ronan MacSweeney asking if reducing the number of international students would solve Australia’s housing crisis.
Education Minister Jason Clare last month announced a plan to cap international student numbers at 260,000, at a time when Australia’s capital cities have a tight rental vacancy rate of 1.3 percent.
Ms O’Neil supported the plan to reduce the number of international students.
“I fully support what the government has done to limit the entry of international students,” he said on Monday.
‘We had our borders closed for almost two years and, for the first time since World War II, our population declined.
“So it was always going to be the case that we would have years of increased migration beyond that. I think it’s very important that we get back to normal, sustainable levels.”
An ABC spokeswoman said Knight was not allowed to ask a question because Q+A did not allow queries from political staff.
Last year Australia accepted 547,300 migrants, the highest net number on record for a calendar year.
Permanent entry, which includes skilled migrants and those on humanitarian visas, was capped at 190,000 during the last financial year.
This meant that international students made up the vast majority of new arrivals, and this influx was classified as long-term.
Education is Australia’s largest services export, valued at $47.8 billion in 2023, almost double the $26.59 billion value in 2022 when Australia reopened its borders.
It was also the country’s most lucrative export after iron ore, coal and natural gas.
Mr Knight noted that his cancelled Q+A question came after a Media Watch programme about his defence in May accused him of being inflammatory because he made a link between immigration and crime.
“And if the media promote Jordan Knight’s incendiary claims without question, they could help provoke exactly the kind of conflict Knight warns about,” said Media Watch host Paul Barry.
“It’s irresponsible, it’s xenophobic and it divides Australia.”
Mr Knight said it was possible the Q&A producer had doubts after watching the Media Watch segment.
“I think that’s exactly what happened, but I can’t confirm it,” he said.
“They probably searched my name and saw that.”
In the end he did not attend the Q+A recording.
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